Sign language

[jsilver256]

But back to hearing, the most emphasis was on behavioural therapy is "trying harder", that's really unhelpful. For example, I didn't get enough sleep during the past few days and I can't "try harder" any longer and all I'm left with is a really serious communication problem (if not for sign). There was no help offered, no workarounds, nothing, and conformity and being ashamed of disability were glorified as heroic and Right. Of course, I think tools such as hearing aid or speech therapy are useful tools to have in your box when deaf 100% or partially. But it might go the other way as well.

I think you've TL;DR'd several very important points here.

The world is one of ableists telling the disabled the "right way" to survive which is impossible. No wonder most deaf people aren't employed. No wonder 40% of autistics are unemployed. They're all trying to do what society tells them to do, not knowing they're doing something that's impossible for them.

The way to excel is to continuously carve out a path that works for you.

One example. I had a friend who got an administration job for an university. She was hard-of-hearing, similar to you. She could function like 80% if she really tried. And so she told the university she was able to answer phones - because you know, her internalized ableism told her to minimize her disabilities.

She misunderstood the contents of her phone calls, the complaints gradually accumulated, the administration started piecing together that she could not actually answer phones in the way they expected, and she was fired in about an year. She couldn't pursue a disability lawsuit because answering phones was part of her job description. Technically, she did misrepresent her abilities - albeit pressurized to do so by society.

I go the other extreme. I make it very clear I do not speak or listen on the job. Ever. Any communication problems were due to ASD, not deafness.

Speech therapy, hearing therapy, all that - are just tools. Tools that may or may not work for you.

I don't want to either encourage or discourage you to keep going down the road of signing. Only you can decide for yourself if this is what you want/need to pursue for success. But I can tell you that I've met plenty of hard-of-hearing folks, who otherwise have a decent amount of on-paper hearing ability, who decided the hearing world wasn't for them.

The same hard-of-hearing woman I mentioned ended up having a Deaf daughter and fully embracing Deaf culture. Now much happier and much more successful for it.

 

[vergil96]

One example. I had a friend who got an administration job for an university. She was hard-of-hearing, similar to you. She could function like 80% if she really tried. And so she told the university she was able to answer phones - because you know, her internalized ableism told her to minimize her disabilities.

She misunderstood the contents of her phone calls, the complaints gradually accumulated, the administration started piecing together that she could not actually answer phones in the way they expected, and she was fired in about an year. She couldn't pursue a disability lawsuit because answering phones was part of her job description. Technically, she did misrepresent her abilities - albeit pressurized to do so by society.

Yeah, I can see why and how it happened. It's bad to put "hard of hearing" and list accommodations on your resume, because it can instantly flag you early in the process as a cost to the company. I can see how being hard of hearing can make a lot of jobs hard or impossible, especially the ones that don't require very specialized skills, there is a lot of emphasis on "man power" then: interpersonal contact, mobility and the such. I see how the phone call thing would happen for me too.

Speech therapy, hearing therapy, all that - are just tools. Tools that may or may not work for you.

Yes, exactly.

I don't want to either encourage or discourage you to keep going down the road of signing. Only you can decide for yourself if this is what you want/need to pursue for success. But I can tell you that I've met plenty of hard-of-hearing folks, who otherwise have a decent amount of on-paper hearing ability, who decided the hearing world wasn't for them.

The same hard-of-hearing woman I mentioned ended up having a Deaf daughter and fully embracing Deaf culture. Now much happier and much more successful for it.

It's very reassuring, thank you. My thoughts are that I'm surprised that it's even a possibility, and it's uplifting that she finally made it work for her.